Akon to release new 'Stadium' albums via app

R 'n' B star Akon  is about to release his first albums in seven years- but you won't find them in stores or on streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music. Instead Akon plans to release four albums through a new app called Stadium, making him the latest artist to adapt to emerging world of technology and bypassing traditional ways of releasing music.

Akon's app stadium with let users stream his song for free, but at a cost of having ads on the screen and shared on Facebook. Users can interact with the app by clicking the ads or sharing with friends on Facebook, and they will earn users credits that they can use to make in-app purchases, such as ringtones and wallpapers, Akon-styled emoji, unlock more songs and videos.

Akon calls his app "the answer" to the music industry's problems. “It’s going to definitely regenerate the music business. It’s going to take someone like me to take the chance on it.” he said. 

By appifying himself and goin independent, Akon aims to serve his 60 million-plus fans on social media. He said that almost 200,000 fans have already registered to get the Stadium app when released in the next couple of weeks.

Akon's first four albums for the Stadium app will broken up into four genre- world, house, urban and reggae which will be releasing soon. The last album, in the pop genre, will be released sometime before March next year, likely in standard formats on multiple digital and physical channels through Warner Music Group's Atlantic Records.

The Stadium app is developed by EscapeX, a New York startup that launched in July. It has made white-label apps for artists such as Karmin and also plans to release new music in new apps for the estate of Bob Marley and DJ Armin Van Buuren

Releasing songs on a personal app can turn out to be good for Akon, as he can have all the revenue from streaming, instead of giving a part of the revenue to the streaming services.

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